Ship traffic normal in Mobile despite oil spill

View full size(AP Photo/Jay Reeves)A pelican lands on a piling with a natural gas rig in the background in Mobile Bay in Mobile, Ala., on Monday, May 3, 2010. The Alabama State Docks has reported no change in traffic despite the oil spill in the Gulf of Mexico.Even with an estimated 210,000 gallons of oil leaking each day in the Gulf of Mexico as part of the Deepwater Horizon spill, it's business as usual at the Alabama State Docks, according to spokeswoman Judy Adams.

Ships are coming in and out at their normal rate, she said. They're being routed around the spill. And any ships that pass through the oil are being required to report themselves.

On Wednesday, one ship reported that it may have come into contact with oil. The U.S. Coast Guard inspected that ship and determined that it had not; it was clean, Adams said.

Four ships arrived at the port and three left on Wednesday. Today, two arrived and one left.

"If there's any slowing at all, it might be associated with vessels having to take an easterly approach just to skirt the oil spill," Adams said. "It has not impacted our traffic. Vessels continue to go in and out of Mobile. Traffic is flowing."